<![CDATA[This study examines how social legitimacy is constructed, contested, and reconstructed by two competing political families in Nagan Raya Regency, Aceh, across four electoral cycles (2002–2024). Background: Decentralization opened new arenas for local elite competition, yet the ideational and narrative dimensions sustaining dynastic legitimacy remain underexplored. Purpose: To analyze mechanisms of social legitimacy construction and the dynamics of inter-dynastic competition in shaping electoral preferences. Methods: Qualitative interpretive approach with critical discourse analysis; data gathered via in-depth interviews, campaign documents, media archives, and KIP Nagan Raya electoral data (2006–2024). Results: Legitimacy was constructed through three collective social narrative typologies—collective pride (2002–2012), dominance normalization (2012–2017), and anti-dynasty transformation (2017–2022)—followed by a restorative re-narrative in 2024. Conclusion: Multilayered symbolic capital rooted in genealogy, development memory, and communal identity demonstrated electoral durability beyond a single defeat. Implications: Post-decentralization local competition is fundamentally a contest over narrative legitimacy; institutional reforms must address structural conditions enabling dynastic narrative reproduction.]]>
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